Monthly Archives: September 2006

A common label thrown at Bible-believing Christians is that they are “Biblical literalists,” that is, they interpret every part of the Bible in a completely literal, rigid fashion. Sadly, this charge is often made within the church. I was in a class at my church last Spring where nearly all the members were shocked that I believed that the original writings of the Bible were inspired by God. I was accused of being a literalist (eek!). I thought I had gone to the Unitarian church by mistake.

Sometimes the charge has merit, such as when someone takes a given passage in a wooden fashion and causes unnecessary divisions. Interpreting the Book of Revelation is an example, where in my opinion some are too literal with their end times predictions. Sometimes people take verses out of context to “prove” something they favor. Some Bible reading tips to help avoid this are located here.

But I think the charge is mostly aimed at those who take the Bible seriously and who believe that the original writings were inspired by God. The Bible claims to speak for God several thousand times, so one would think that anyone calling themselves a Christian wouldn’t find it controversial to claim that the Bible is God’s Word.

Jesus used hyperbole, or extreme exaggeration, in saying it was better to gouge out our eyes or cut off our hands if that would stop us from sinning (at least I hope He was exaggerating!). He also said to love your enemies and hate your parents. But the passage where he said to hate your parents is also hyperbole. He was making the point that we should love him so much more than other people and things that relatively speaking it would look like hate. He obviously didn’t mean that literally.

Sometimes the criticisms are leveled at those who think Noah and Jonah are real people. But when you read those passages, do they sound like allegories or real events? If God made the universe and everything in it, is any miracle in the Bible too hard for him?

Ironically, those who hurl the literalist label are usually the first to take a verse literally and out of context. The favorite verse of some Christians (and non-Christians) appears to be Matthew 7:1, where Jesus says, “Do not judge.” They use this as an excuse for any and all behavior and to deflect criticism. If they would keep reading they would see that Jesus meant not to judge hypocritically. There are plenty of verses teaching that we need to make sound judgments, such as John 7:24 (“Stop judging on mere appearances and make a right judgment.”)

In an additional irony, they use this verse to judge those who make judgments. If anyone ever throws that verse at you out of context, then just reply by asking, “If it is wrong to judge, why are you judging me right now?”

Please be sure to read all of this article about the 2005 “Hearts on Fire” conference, which was designed to promote acceptance of homosexual practices but even went beyond that and turned into a heresy-fest. It highlights just how far gone parts of the United Methodist Church are. I’m not sure why these bishops, pastors and other “leaders” don’t just join a group such as the Unitarians or the United Church of Christ where their apostate views would be accepted. The fact that our discipline is so weak as to allow this is one of the reasons I have to talk myself out of leaving the UMC about once a month.

Here are some samples:

A bishop who was happy that she could talk about Sophia (goddess worship) once she joined the Council of Bishops. Hmm . . . so did she lie at her ordination vows or recant later? Either way, why is it OK to come out with heresies after one becomes a bishop but not before? How about leaving the church if that is what she really believes?

Repudiations for some of Jesus’ teachings and some actions of Paul

Open defiance of church laws

The “hero” Beth Stroud, who lied at her ordination vows then came out because it was the most “faithful witness” she could do. Considering that she dragged the church through lots of negative publicity just because we adhered to our Book of Discipline and the Bible, I can think of some more faithful ways she could have witnessed.

Lame reasoning by retired Bishop Wilke, one of the main authors of the Disciple Bible Study series (I’ve facilitated my last Disciple class. Watching him on the videos would be too distracting now).

Much, much more

Read it. Share it. Stand up in your church for sound doctrine and the removal of these heretics. Pray for them and the people they are misleading. Consider supporting the UM Action group that helps defend orthodox Methodism.

And take this survey on the United Methodist Church. The pro-gay groups are heavily marketing it, so orthodox Methodists should complete it as well to reduce the chance that the results will be distorted.

Jonah 4 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.He prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

But the Lord replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”

This would have been a good spot for Jonah to say, “Great point, Lord! I have no right at all to be angry. I should rejoice at your mercy and grace.” But He didn’t say that.

Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered.When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”

“I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.”

But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”

Note God’s amazing patience with Jonah!

Just a little side note – God was concerned about the cattle as well as the humans. Of course, He considers humans to be much more important, but this is one of many verses that display God’s love for animals. I did a post on my other blog about “Who will you see in Heaven?” and we discussed the concept of animals in Heaven a bit there.

I find verse 2 to be one of the most interesting verses in the Bible: “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. ” While much of the world pictures God as angry and unforgiving, consider that one of his prophets was angry enough to die because he “knew” that God abounded in love, and more.

Consider how the story ends. Jonah never does come around completely to God’s way of thinking (at least not in the portion documented in the Bible). God has exercised remarkable patience with the Ninevites and with Jonah.

Praise God for his incredible patience with us as we wrestle with him as Jonah did. And pray that we let God transform our minds so we can think more like He does and follow Christ more closely.

Reflect on what stood out to you in this reading and share your comments and questions if you like.

The next reading is Psalm 4. I thought we would do 3-5 Psalms, then a couple chapters of Proverbs, then I’m open to suggestions.

Hold onto your hats, people. Tammy Bruce is an openly gay, pro-choice, non-Christian, but I’m a fan of hers. Seriously. Of course, I disagree with her on those topics, but I appreciate her style and we have a lot of common ground elsewhere. And she is willing to draw some lines where others will not.

I read “The Death of Right and Wrong” and highly recommend it. She is truly a breath of fresh air. She is candid, honest, brave, funny and hard to label.

For example, though she is gay she described some of the horrific things some pro-gay groups have done in schools and said: “It’s time we demand that radical gays leave children alone, no matter how politically incorrect the argument becomes” (and this was written in 2003 . . . things have gotten worse).

No liberal groups are spared, including Planned Parenthood, Jesse Jackson & Co., NOW, academia, the media and the justice system.

She read C.S. Lewis’ classic Mere Christianity and took it very seriously, seeing the wisdom in his moral reasoning.

She doesn’t demonize or hate Christians (I pray that she becomes a Christian one day). In fact, she developed a lot of respect for them when they donated to her NOW organization during the OJ trial. They disagreed on her group’s pro-choice views but they cared about the battered women Tammy was trying to help. Tammy took the unpopular position of being against OJ because of that pesky matter of abusing and murdering his ex-wife, while most NOW leaders took OJ’s side as if the issue at hand were race.

Jonah 3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time:“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.

Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days.On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

Note the simplicity and power of the message. Jonah obeyed (finally!). The Ninevites, including their king, believed God and repented. God was gracious and merciful to them.

Sometimes we can over-complicate the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ. If you look at the book of Acts, which chronicles the early years of the church, the Gospel is shared thirteen times in a somewhat similar pattern. People are made aware of their problem (sinners separated from a perfect, Holy, righteous God) and the solution (Jesus, the Savior of the world, who died in their place and who offers complete forgiveness and reconciliation if they will only put their faith in him).

Sometimes we jump ahead and forget to point out that people need to know their problem before they hear the solution. Otherwise, they don’t think they need the solution.

It is easy to be hard on Jonah, but then I remember how many times I have done the opposite of what God wanted me to do. I praise him for his unending mercy and grace.

Reflect on what stood out to you in this reading and share your comments and questions if you like.

Where will followers of Christ live in heaven? In John 14:2-3, Jesus said:

In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Now I’m not sure exactly what a room in our Father’s house will be like. One translation referred to it as a mansion. But I do know these things:

Jesus could make something magnificent in an instant, and He has had a couple thousand years to prepare rooms for believers. So I think they will be pretty sweet.

It will be greater than anything we could imagine on this planet, so that has to be good. The very best of earth is a glimpse of Heaven and the very worst of earth is a glimpse of Hell.

Jesus always keeps his promises, so we can rely on this 100%.

I’m not sure about the sleep part, other than whatever the sleep situation is we’ll understand it and be pleased with it. I know my current understanding and desire for sleep make me hope for some regular nap times. Any ideas?

If you are not familiar with Christianity and want to know more, click here.

Some people love to demonize Wal-Mart for allegedly underpaying their employees and not providing enough benefits, among other things. I’m not saying Wal-Mart is perfect or beyond criticism by any means. I just find that the bashers display the typical covetous attitude of those who think God is doing a lousy job of distributing wealth and that He needs their help to fix the problem. And they usually appear to have a disdain for those who shop at Wal-Mart.

Democratic leaders believe Wal-Mart bashing is a great strategy for them. Of course, there are no Wal-Mart stores in New York City, Hollywood or Washington, D.C., so they may not realize just how many people like Wal-Mart. A Pew poll showed that even 62% of liberal Democrats think Wal-Mart is a “good place to shop.”

Here’s the solution for the bashers: Start up a business near a Wal-Mart and pay slightly higher wages and benefits. It will be a triple win: Your business will be successful because you hired some the best and brightest Wal-Mart employees, their standard of living will increase and you’ll be sticking it to your enemy. It is called capitalism. It has some hard edges at times, but it has done more to reduce poverty and increase standards of living than any other -ism every invented.

If you think their suppliers use child labor, then use a Consumer Reports-type approach and offer some type of seal of approval that ethical companies can apply for. You don’t need a lot of government intervention. Then steer your flock to only purchase goods from approved vendors.

Disclosure: I don’t own stock in Wal-Mart (unless indirectly via a mutual fund) and I don’t work there. I did audit their financial statements back in the late 80’s, so I know a bit about them. They have always been relentless about using technology and best practices to offer lower prices. They have made many of their employees very wealthy through their profit sharing program. Mainly we just shop there for good deals.